Costs

The first defendant had been the successful party to proceedings brought by a claimant who had been funded by the Legal Services Commission (LSC). The first defendant claimed to be entitled to be indemnified in accordance with the Community Legal Service (Cost Protection) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/824) for the costs of defending the claim. During the course of the trial, the claimant had ceased to be in receipt of funding, with the result that the first defendant’s, potential claim against the LSC was restricted to the costs incurred by him which were attributable to the part of the proceedings in which the party was funded. The first defendant appealed.

The court ruled that the natural meaning of attributable in para 5(4) of the regulations was that it denoted a simple link between the services funded by the LSC and the defence costs of the non-funded party. That construction accorded with the purpose of the provisions, which was to protect the non-funded party from the consequences of unsuccessful proceedings